GTI in Saló Nàutic 2014

On Saturday 18th of October the GTI participated in the Saló Nàutic 2014, which took place in Port Vell in Barcelona. Miguel Angel Carralero, the Technological Promoter of the GTI, and members of FNOB presented the new edition of the Barcelona World Race THE GAME together with the educational programme “Siguiendo la Barcelona World Race”. At the exhibition, the Virtual Reality (VR) experience of the Barcelona World Race was also shown.

FNOB members presented how this new edition includes better statistics, tablet and smartphone support, 3D visualisation, as well as others. One of the new features is the possibility for users to create groups to compete against each other. Also this new edition has weekly and stage achievements, as well as prizes for the winners.

Miguel Angel described the new 3D visualisation developed in the GTI, which offers a realistic visualisation of the boat in different weather conditions according to the situation of the boat. The feature is developed in WebGL, a web technology which is currently heavily used in the GTI’s research, as it is one of the best ways for developing 3D applications in the web browser without the need of any plug-ins.

The GTI also had the opportunity to present research realised around the project, showing exclusively their Barcelona World Race Virtual Reality (VR) experience to the attendees of the presentation, developed by Gerard Llorach, a research member of the GTI that studies the side-effects of Virtual Reality. Afterwards, the VR experience with the Oculus Rift was shown at FNOB’s stand, where members of the public attending the exhibition could enjoy the feeling of being on a competition sailing boat out in the ocean. Even real sailors of the Barcelona World Race could try it and were amazed by the VR experience.